Manchester dialect
Encyclopedia
Mancunian is a dialect
, and the name given to the people of Manchester
, England, and some of the surrounding areas within Greater Manchester
, for example Salford
.
It is claimed that the accent has subconsciously changed the way people from other regions speak through television shows such as Coronation Street
and bands such as Oasis
.
of vowel
sounds when compared to the flattened sounds of neighbouring areas. This is also noticeable with words ending in such as tenner. Traditionally, the Manchester area was known for glottal reinforcement of the consonants /k/, /p/ and /t/, similar to modern speech in the north-east of England.
John C. Wells
observed the accents of Leeds and Manchester. He found them to be similar despite the historic divide between the two sides of the Pennines
. His proposed criteria for distinguishing the two are that Mancunians avoid Ng-coalescence, so singer rhymes with finger /ˈsɪŋɡə/ and king, ring, sing, etc. all end with a hard ɡ sound, and also that Leeds residents employ "Yorkshire assimilation", by which voiced consonants change into voiceless consonants in words such as Bradford /ˈbratfəd/, subcommittee /sʊpkəˈmɪtɪ/ and frogspawn /ˈfrɒkspɔːn/.
The Mancunian dialect may have originally developed from the old Lancastrian dialects and could have been affected by the vast influx of immigrants introduced to the city during the Industrial Revolution
, when the cities of Salford and Manchester became a port due to the building of the Manchester Ship Canal
. Immigrants moved to the city for work opportunities from many parts of Europe, most notably Ireland.
and Salford
, plus immediately adjoining parts of Stockport
, Trafford
and Bury
boroughs. It is also prominent in 'overspill' towns such as Hattersley
, Gamesley
, Handforth
and Birchwood
.
The dialect itself is more distinctive than many people realise. It is quite noticeably different from the accent spoken in adjacent towns such as Oldham
, Bolton
and Wigan
. The Mancunian accent is less dialect heavy than neighbouring Lancashire and Cheshire accents, although words such as 'Owt' (meaning 'anything') and 'Nowt' (meaning 'nothing') remain part of the Mancunian vocabulary.
Particularly strong examples of the accent can be heard spoken by Mark E Smith (Salford born, Prestwich raised singer with The Fall), the actor John Henshaw
(from Ancoats) and Noel Gallagher
from Burnage band Oasis
. The actor Caroline Aherne
(raised in Wythenshawe) speaks with a softer, slower version of the accent. Stretford raised Morrissey
- like many Mancunians, from an Irish background - has a local accent with a noticeable lilt inherited from his parents. Salford born Tony Wilson
retained his Manchester accent albeit somewhat modified by his upbringing in Marple and his Cambridge education. Salford poet John Cooper Clarke
is another fine example of a working class Mancunian accent as can be heard in his spoken word recordings. Other notable 'Manc' speakers include boxer Ricky Hatton
(from Hattersley) and the actor Bernard Hill
(from Blackley). Dominic Monaghan
speaks with a notable Manc accent, and his characters in both Lost
and FlashForward
have made note of it. Less well known outside of the area, and with pronounced local accents, are local broadcasters Eamonn O'Neal, Mike Sweeney
and Jimmy Wagg. The TV broadcaster Terry Christian
(from Old Trafford) has a particularly prominent voice which has left him open to ridicule and accusations of exaggeration, not least from his fellow Mancunians. The Mancunian accent is prominent in the locally set TV series Shameless
, The Street
and The Royle Family
. The character Jack Regan
in the 1970s police drama The Sweeney
(played by Mancunian actor John Thaw
) is a Mancunian with an accent heavily modified by years of living in London. Another example of a famous Mancunian speaker is Karl Pilkington
, a radio and TV personality.
Manchester's most famous soap opera Coronation Street
has, despite being based in the city, less pronounced Mancunian accents than other TV shows set in the area. Several of the show's cast members do speak with pronounced Mancunian accents in the series. They include Michael Le Vell
who plays Kevin, Michelle Keegan
(Tina), Emma Collinge
(Rosie Webster), Simon Gregson
(Steve McDonald).
era. Influences from Ireland include the pronunciation of the letter 'h' as 'haitch' and the plural of 'you' as 'youse'. However, this pronunciation of 'h' is now widespread, being used by approximately 24% of British people born since 1982.
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
, and the name given to the people of Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England, and some of the surrounding areas within Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
, for example Salford
City of Salford
The City of Salford is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Salford, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Eccles, Swinton-Pendlebury, Walkden and Irlam which apart from Irlam each have a population of over...
.
It is claimed that the accent has subconsciously changed the way people from other regions speak through television shows such as Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
and bands such as Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
.
Dialect
The dialect is distinguishable from other Northern English dialects. A major feature of the Mancunian accent is the over-enunciationEnunciation
In phonetics, enunciation is the act of speaking. Good enunciation is the act of speaking clearly and concisely. The opposite of good enunciation is mumbling or slurring. See also pronunciation which is a component of enunciation. Pronunciation is to pronounce sounds of words correctly....
of vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
sounds when compared to the flattened sounds of neighbouring areas. This is also noticeable with words ending in
John C. Wells
John C. Wells
John Christopher Wells is a British phonetician and Esperanto teacher. Wells is a professor emeritus at University College London, where until his retirement in 2006 he held the departmental chair in phonetics....
observed the accents of Leeds and Manchester. He found them to be similar despite the historic divide between the two sides of the Pennines
Pennines
The Pennines are a low-rising mountain range, separating the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.Often described as the "backbone of England", they form a more-or-less continuous range stretching from the Peak District in Derbyshire, around the northern and eastern edges of...
. His proposed criteria for distinguishing the two are that Mancunians avoid Ng-coalescence, so singer rhymes with finger /ˈsɪŋɡə/ and king, ring, sing, etc. all end with a hard ɡ sound, and also that Leeds residents employ "Yorkshire assimilation", by which voiced consonants change into voiceless consonants in words such as Bradford /ˈbratfəd/, subcommittee /sʊpkəˈmɪtɪ/ and frogspawn /ˈfrɒkspɔːn/.
The Mancunian dialect may have originally developed from the old Lancastrian dialects and could have been affected by the vast influx of immigrants introduced to the city during the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
, when the cities of Salford and Manchester became a port due to the building of the Manchester Ship Canal
Manchester Ship Canal
The Manchester Ship Canal is a river navigation 36 miles long in the North West of England. Starting at the Mersey Estuary near Liverpool, it generally follows the original routes of the rivers Mersey and Irwell through the historic counties of Cheshire and Lancashire. Several sets of locks lift...
. Immigrants moved to the city for work opportunities from many parts of Europe, most notably Ireland.
Geographical coverage
The Manchester accent is relatively localised, covering the city boroughs of ManchesterManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and Salford
City of Salford
The City of Salford is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Salford, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Eccles, Swinton-Pendlebury, Walkden and Irlam which apart from Irlam each have a population of over...
, plus immediately adjoining parts of Stockport
Stockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...
, Trafford
Trafford
The Metropolitan Borough of Trafford is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It has a population of 211,800, covers , and includes the towns of Altrincham, Partington, Sale, Stretford, and Urmston...
and Bury
Bury
Bury is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Irwell, east of Bolton, west-southwest of Rochdale, and north-northwest of the city of Manchester...
boroughs. It is also prominent in 'overspill' towns such as Hattersley
Hattersley
Hattersley is a residential area within the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, in Greater Manchester, England. It is to the east of Hyde and 6 miles west of the Peak District National Park....
, Gamesley
Gamesley
Gamesley is a residential area within the Borough of High Peak in Derbyshire, England, west of Glossop and north of New Mills. It lies close to the River Etherow which is the boundary with Tameside in Greater Manchester.-Early:...
, Handforth
Handforth
Handforth is a suburban area situated between Wilmslow, Heald Green, and Styal in Cheshire, England. Travelling south from Manchester, Handforth is the first place in Cheshire, although other areas nearer Manchester lie within the historic boundaries of the county.In the 1950s, two overspill...
and Birchwood
Birchwood
Birchwood is a civil parish in the north-eastern part of Warrington, Cheshire, England with a population of 11,395 . Historically a part of Lancashire, it is the easternmost part of the Warrington urban area. It was built during the time of much expansion in Warrington as it became a "new town"...
.
The dialect itself is more distinctive than many people realise. It is quite noticeably different from the accent spoken in adjacent towns such as Oldham
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...
, Bolton
Bolton
Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...
and Wigan
Wigan
Wigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south-west of Bolton, north of Warrington and west-northwest of Manchester. Wigan is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town of Wigan had a total...
. The Mancunian accent is less dialect heavy than neighbouring Lancashire and Cheshire accents, although words such as 'Owt' (meaning 'anything') and 'Nowt' (meaning 'nothing') remain part of the Mancunian vocabulary.
Particularly strong examples of the accent can be heard spoken by Mark E Smith (Salford born, Prestwich raised singer with The Fall), the actor John Henshaw
John Henshaw
John Henshaw is a British actor, best-known for his roles as Ken the landlord in Early Doors, Wilf Bradshaw in Born and Bred and PC Roy Bramwell in The Cops. He is often associated with playing "hard men"...
(from Ancoats) and Noel Gallagher
Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, formerly the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis. He is currently fronting his solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.Raised in Burnage, Manchester with his...
from Burnage band Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
. The actor Caroline Aherne
Caroline Aherne
Caroline Mary Aherne is an English comedian and BAFTA winning writer and actress, best known for Mrs Merton and The Royle Family.- Background :...
(raised in Wythenshawe) speaks with a softer, slower version of the accent. Stretford raised Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
- like many Mancunians, from an Irish background - has a local accent with a noticeable lilt inherited from his parents. Salford born Tony Wilson
Tony Wilson
Anthony Howard Wilson, commonly known as Tony Wilson , was an English record label owner, radio presenter, TV show host, nightclub manager, impresario and journalist for Granada Television and the BBC....
retained his Manchester accent albeit somewhat modified by his upbringing in Marple and his Cambridge education. Salford poet John Cooper Clarke
John Cooper Clarke
John Cooper Clarke is an English performance poet who first became famous during the punk rock era of the late 1970s when he became known as a "punk poet"...
is another fine example of a working class Mancunian accent as can be heard in his spoken word recordings. Other notable 'Manc' speakers include boxer Ricky Hatton
Ricky Hatton
Richard John Hatton MBE, more commonly known as Ricky "the Hitman" Hatton, , is a former British professional boxer, and currently a promoter....
(from Hattersley) and the actor Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill is a British actor of film, stage and television. In a career spanning thirty years, he is best known for playing Yosser Hughes, the troubled 'hard man' whose life is falling apart in Alan Bleasdale's groundbreaking 1980s TV drama, Boys from the Blackstuff...
(from Blackley). Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan is an English actor. He has received international attention from playing Merry in Peter Jackson's adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and for his role as Charlie Pace on the television show Lost....
speaks with a notable Manc accent, and his characters in both Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
and FlashForward
Flashforward
A flashforward is an interjected scene that takes the narrative forward in time from the current point of the story in literature, film, television and other media. Flashforwards are often used to represent events expected, projected, or imagined to occur in the future...
have made note of it. Less well known outside of the area, and with pronounced local accents, are local broadcasters Eamonn O'Neal, Mike Sweeney
Mike Sweeney
Michael John "Mike" Sweeney is a former Major League Baseball first baseman. Sweeney played his first 13 seasons in the majors with the Kansas City Royals, originally as a catcher and then moving to first base. Sweeney has also played for the Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, and Philadelphia...
and Jimmy Wagg. The TV broadcaster Terry Christian
Terry Christian
Terry Christian is a British television and radio presenter whose credits include Channel 4's late night Youth Entertainment show The Word and ITV1 moral issues talk show It's My Life...
(from Old Trafford) has a particularly prominent voice which has left him open to ridicule and accusations of exaggeration, not least from his fellow Mancunians. The Mancunian accent is prominent in the locally set TV series Shameless
Shameless
Shameless is a British television drama series set in Manchester on the fictional Chatsworth council estate. Produced by Company Pictures for Channel 4, the first seven-episode series aired weekly on Tuesday nights at 10pm from 13 January 2004...
, The Street
The Street
The Street may refer to:*The Street , a drama shown on BBC One in 2006, 2007 and 2009*"The Street" , by H. P. Lovecraft*The Street , a 1946 novel by Ann Petry...
and The Royle Family
The Royle Family
The Royle Family is a popular, BAFTA award-winning television comedy drama produced by Granada Television for the BBC, which ran for three series between 1998 and 2000, and specials from 2006 onwards...
. The character Jack Regan
Jack Regan
Jack Regan was an Australian rules footballer, who played 196 games with the Collingwood Football Club.Regan was known as The Prince of Fullbacks. He was regarded by many as the greatest fullback of all time but, controversially, was denied a position in the Australian Football League's Team of...
in the 1970s police drama The Sweeney
The Sweeney
The Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London...
(played by Mancunian actor John Thaw
John Thaw
John Edward Thaw, CBE was an English actor, who appeared in a range of television, stage and cinema roles, his most popular being police and legal dramas such as Redcap, The Sweeney, Inspector Morse and Kavanagh QC.-Early life:Thaw came from a working class background, having been born in Gorton,...
) is a Mancunian with an accent heavily modified by years of living in London. Another example of a famous Mancunian speaker is Karl Pilkington
Karl Pilkington
Karl Pilkington is a British podcaster, author, television personality and former radio producer. He is best known for the Sky travel series, An Idiot Abroad, which was also presented in the United States on the Science Channel, in Canada on Discovery Channel and in Australia on One HD, and The...
, a radio and TV personality.
Manchester's most famous soap opera Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
has, despite being based in the city, less pronounced Mancunian accents than other TV shows set in the area. Several of the show's cast members do speak with pronounced Mancunian accents in the series. They include Michael Le Vell
Michael Le Vell
Michael Le Vell is an English character actor, who since 1983 has played the role of garage mechanic, Kevin Webster, in the soap opera Coronation Street....
who plays Kevin, Michelle Keegan
Michelle Keegan
Michelle Elizabeth Keegan is an English actress who currently plays Tina McIntyre in the soap opera Coronation Street.-Biography:...
(Tina), Emma Collinge
Emma Collinge
Emma Collinge was born in October 1990, in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, where she played the role of Rosie Webster, in ITV's Coronation Street, from the age of just two weeks old to December 1999, when the nine-year-old decided to leave, handing the role to Helen Flanagan. She left to...
(Rosie Webster), Simon Gregson
Simon Gregson
Simon Gregson is an English actor. He is known for being a cast member of the British soap opera Coronation Street in which he has played Steve McDonald since 1989....
(Steve McDonald).
Vocabulary
Some of Manchester's most notable words, phrases and sayings include "having a buzz", meaning to have a good time, "Our Kid" ( "Arr -kid"), meaning a sibling or friend, 'Scran' (food - also found in Liverpool and Glasgow ), 'Gaff' ( residence, house or flat) and "the dibble" referring to the police. The term "madferit" (mad for it), meaning full of enthusiasm, was a phrase that embodied the MadchesterMadchester
Madchester was a music scene that developed in Manchester, England, towards the end of the 1980s and into the early 1990s. The music that emerged from the scene mixed alternative rock, psychedelic rock and dance music...
era. Influences from Ireland include the pronunciation of the letter 'h' as 'haitch' and the plural of 'you' as 'youse'. However, this pronunciation of 'h' is now widespread, being used by approximately 24% of British people born since 1982.